


The Capella Space Factory Incident

by chinuplilpup



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Secret Samol 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 23:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13177161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinuplilpup/pseuds/chinuplilpup
Summary: Mako and Aria are both fairly banged up. Well, Aria has a few scrapes and the beginnings of bruises. Mako broke his wrist so mostly he's the one banged up, technically. Cass, on the other hand, just walks out of Capella Industries with a signed credit transfer on their datapad.Secret Samol gift for @drowzydruzy !





	The Capella Space Factory Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chordialcompeer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chordialcompeer/gifts).



> A Secret Samol gift for @drowzydruzy over on twitter, who requested Aria and Mako friendship. To which I’ve delivered a story about Aria and Mako acting like siblings and both crushing on Cass, way before they realized that Cass is a huge nerd and a mess also.

Mako and Aria are both fairly banged up. Well, Aria has a few scrapes and the beginnings of bruises. Mako broke his wrist so mostly he's the one banged up, technically. They're both definitely sweaty from the chase and coming down off of adrenaline.

Cass, on the other hand, just walks out of Capella Industries with a signed credit transfer on their datapad, adjusting the cuffs of their suit.

Mako is already in the Kingdom Come and doesn’t see them leave, but he can imagine. It looks really fucking cool in his imagination, which is both infuriating and incredibly hot.

He and Aria were only inside the building as backup, but it turned out the secretary in the waiting room was a big Aria Joie fan, and one thing led to another and then they were running for their lives through a maze of hallways. AuDy got them out of there in a daring escape across the skies, and then after Cass just strolled out, they had to wait for public transportation back. 

The wait is the most agonizing thing Mako has ever been though. He thinks about Cass sitting on a blue plastic seat, cool and calm and unruffled, with the goal of their mission tucked in an inside pocket. 

Meanwhile, the adrenaline filters out of Mako’s system and lets the pain in. Meanwhile, Mako is sitting on a metal bench, holding an ice pack over his broken wrist and trying not to cry. 

“We could go to a hospital,” Aria says. 

The Kingdome Come doesn’t have a medbay. It does have a room that is going to become a medbay once they have the credits to get Cass some real equipment. Currently, that room has a bench and a sink and a first aid kit. 

Mako really, really wants someone to fix his wrist. Preferably in the next five minutes. “AuDy said it’s too dangerous.”

His wrist hurt much, much less twenty minutes ago, and he thinks he remembers saying something like, “Oh, that’s cool, I can totally wait for Cass, it’s so cool, guys, I’m fine.” AuDy had looked at the awkward, definitely-broken angle of Mako’s wrist, said, “I will tell Cassander to hurry,” and gone to the bridge. 

Aria doesn’t look convinced, so Mako tries, “I’m _fine_.” 

Aria bites her lip. A few strands of hair are caught in the bandaid on her forehead. “I mean, if we get arrested Godlove can just pull some strings, right? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Okay, now I can’t, you just doomed the whole plan.” Mako kicks his legs in case that helps with the pain. 

“Sorry.” Aria laughs a little, and Mako can’t even bring himself to join in. She sits on the bench next to him, and after a second she takes his other, not-shattered-to-pieces hand. Mako doesn’t hesitate to squeeze her fingers. Meeting Aria Joie was a tiny bit intimidating at first, but once you’ve helped someone peel off a super painful face mask and lived through blaster fire with her, the awe fades into something like real friendship. 

Holding her hand helps a little. Mako wants to cry with relief, and also because of the pain still. He asks, “Have you ever broken a bone?”

Aria shakes her head. “I’ve just sprained my ankle loads of times. Have you?”

Mako lets go of her hand and lifts up the ice pack on his wrist. That turns out to be a mistake. It’s nearly twice as big as it should be and the back of his hand is a nasty purplish-green color. He quickly looks away. 

“Well, yeah,” Aria says. “What about before this?”

“Nope!” He would remember something that hurt this bad. He looks at his wrist and the mess of colors under the skin. “Is that normal?”

“I think so,” Aria says. She does not sound confident at all. 

Mako can’t stop looking at it now. His other hand is going numb from holding the ice pack. “Is it supposed to be that color?”

“I mean, it’s broken. You should keep icing it.”

“Oh god, is that— What if I popped a vein or something?” Internal bleeding is bad, he knows that. He drops the ice pack on the bench in between them so he can preoccupy his fingers. He rubs them through his hair, and then waves his hand in the air and says, “Oh my god.”

“You’re going to be fine. Don’t freak out,” Aria says, her voice shrill. 

“You’re freaking out!” Mako accuses, gesturing wildly. A few drops of water fly off the ice pack at her.

“You’re freaking me out! Put that back on,” Aria says. “Seriously, Mako—”

Mako presses the ice pack too hard on the bruise and winces. “Ow!” 

“Don’t _hurt_ yourself.”

“You can’t even look at my wrist, can you?” Mako brandishes the ice pack in Aria’s direction, throwing more water droplets at her. Aria seems to realize she’s turned the other way. Even then, she can’t bring herself to look over. Oh god, Mako is going to die. 

“Listen, okay?” Aria takes a deep breath. “Cass will be here in a few minutes.”

“What if they aren’t?”

“They’ll fix you up so quickly it’ll be funny,” Aria says. “Come on.” 

She coaxes him to put the ice pack back on his wrist, and starts bouncing his palm on top of hers. The motion works as a distraction. “They’ll be here any minute. Now you can say you’ve broken a bone, right?”

“Right.” Mako takes a deep breath. 

Footsteps echo outside the door. 

“Cass!” The relief in Aria’s voice is palpable.

Mako jerks upright. Cass, outside of Mako’s imagination, looks ruffled. Their suit fits well for a thrift store find. The shoulders are a little too big for Cass’s shoulders, but it still looks good. Their cheeks are bright and their forehead is shiny with sweat, like they ran here from the airlock. Mako gives them a nonchalant grin and a nod. 

They look at Aria. “Is he all right?” 

“He broke his wrist when we escaped.”

“Are you all right?” 

Aria nods.

“It was pretty awesome,” Mako says. “I have to tell you about it later.”

Cass looks up from the first aid kit and frowns. “Later.” 

Setting Mako’s wrist takes about ten minutes. Aria holds his hand through it, and technically Cass kind of more or less holds his other hand, in order to put on the brace. 

“See? I told you,” Aria says. 

Mako sniffles. He totally cried, but it’s over and the pain isn’t getting worse any more. “Thanks, Cass.”

“Well, don’t make a habit of it.” From them it sounds so warm and caring. 

Mako’s stomach clenches. “I didn’t get hurt on purpose.”

“Okay, but don’t— I just said don’t make a habit of it.” Cass pulls at their tie, looking uncomfortable. They close the first aid kit and put it away, and then pull at their tie again.

“This costume,” they mutter. They undo the top button of their suit. Mako’s mouth goes a little dry. 

“Are you sure you’re all right, Aria?” Cass asks.

Aria blinks. She nods. 

They nod and then leave the room, saying something about changing.

A moment of silence. 

“Wow,” Aria says.

“Wow,” Mako agrees. 

 

Cass changes into traditional Apostolisian wear, which as far as Mako can tell is one huge piece of fabric that twists and folds around Cass’s body. Aria changes too, into sweatpants and a tank top. 

Mako had come to the hard realization that taking off his shirt involved way too much movement for his arm to handle at the moment, so he’s stuck in what he was wearing on the mission. Thankfully, it’s a graphic tee with a black suit jacket and a white button-down printed on it, which is as comfortable as it is stylish. He spent fifteen minutes wriggling out of his jeans and into a pair of shorts and came out into the common area to lie down on the couch, only to find Cass and Aria already sitting on it. 

“AuDy has an appointment with Godlove in four hours,” Cass looks up from their book to say. “The credits should come in then.”

“Cool,” Mako says. To Aria he says, “Move. I’m injured.”

Aria scoots right up to Cass’s side. They shift to give her more room, which she gladly takes. 

Mako stares and says, “Uh, I changed my mind.”

Aria tilts her head. 

“My arm really hurts. Cass, can you look at it?”

“It’s going to hurt for a while,” Cass says, apologetic. “There’s not much I can do.”

“Yeah, but like, it hurts a lot.” Mako winces, to make it convincing. “Can you check on it?”

Aria begrudgingly moves over for Mako to sit down next to Cass. Cass takes his arm, their fingers clinical and light against his skin. Mako holds his breath. 

“Here,” Cass says, “I’ll get you some ice.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Cass walks out of the room. Mako watches them go, and then turns to Aria. “What are you doing?” 

“Uh, what are you doing?” 

Mako looks around in disbelief. “Flirting,” he says. Duh. 

Aria’s eyebrows shoot up. “ _That’s_ what— You know what, actually, fine. Good. Good.”

“What? That’s how I— What’s wrong with—”

Aria shrugs and smooths out her sweatpants. “Nothing.”

Mako splutters. He flirts totally fine. Not one guy has ever complained about it. He settles on, “You always like everyone I like!”

“That’s not true.” Aria is blushing, so she has to know that it’s absolutely true. 

“It is!” 

“I’m not doing this,” Aria says. “Like who?”

“Like—” 

“Shut up!” Aria says just as Cass walks back in. She pushes Mako’s shoulder. 

“Ow!” Mako curls up around the brace on his wrist. “Holy shit, Aria!”

“I didn’t touch your arm. I just like, poked you,” Aria says. “I barely touched him, I swear.”

Cass sits back down. “Let me see.”

Mako holds out his arm. He shoots a triumphant look over his shoulder when Cass bends their head over it. Aria glares at him.

“You’re fine,” Cass says. They hand Mako the ice pack. 

“Thank you.” Their fingers don’t brush when Mako takes it but, like, they could have. 

AuDy walks in and stands at the doorway until everyone is looking at them. “Mako,” they say, “I apologize for setting off that trap.”

“It’s okay,” Mako says, “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Nevertheless, had I not triggered the motion sensor that lay beyond the door—”

Aria jumps in. “Hey, I was the one who was all disoriented and—”

Not to be outdone, Mako jumps in with, “No one expected it to be in the mesh.”

“Right. Even Mako didn’t realize it immediately,” Aria says. 

Aria and AuDy look at him as if expecting him to argue. “No, true. If this is about my hand, don’t worry about it, buddy. It’s nothing I couldn’t handle. Right?”

Aria snorts. “Right.” 

“Are you messing with me?” Cass asks. “That all really happened.”

“Yeah,” Mako says. He shifts in his excitement and the ice pack balanced on his brace falls to the side. He replaces it as he says, “I told you it was awesome.”

Cass looks at AuDy. 

“I’m afraid to say that it did.”

“It was kind of awesome,” Aria says. 

“I look forward to reading the official report,” they say. At Mako’s expression, they add, “And hearing about it.”

AuDy comes over and pats Mako’s shoulder. “I’m glad you are okay.”

“Thanks, buddy.”


End file.
